Knitting-machine



No. 31,404. PATBNTEDQFBB. 12, 1861 M. L. ROBERTS. "KNITTING MAC INE;

1 @TATFfi MARK L. ROBERTS, OF MOUNT UNION, OHIO.

KNITTING-FIACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 31,4b4, dated February 12, 1861; .Reissued December 22, 1868, No. 3,242.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, MARK L. ROBERTS, of Mount Union, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Knitting Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a vertical longitudinal section of part of the machine, having the improvement applied; and Fig. 2, a sectional front view of part of the same.

Like letters, when on the different figures, indicate the same objects.

My invention consists in the peculiar arrangement, hereinafter described, of the presser and its guides with the outside of the face of the needle-cylinder, or carrier;

' whereby the stitches are pressed downward more certainly, and thus prevented from being slipped out of the eyes of the needles as the latter are pushed forward in the operation of knitting.

In the drawings, A, is the frame of the machine; B, the needle-carrier; CG, the needles; D, the needle-operator; E, the crank; F, the connecting rod; G, the presser, and G, G, its stationary guides.

The needle-carrier (B) has a deep, straight, rectangular, independent groove 2', for each one of the numerous needles (G), the said grooves being cut parallel with each other along the periphery of the carrier, as seen in Fig. l, and at equal distances apart, as seen in Fig. 2, the said grooves and their -distances apart being represented in the drawings as of the regular working size.

The needles CCtwo only being shown are, in this instance, made with a spring-closing eye or loop, as in Hollens patent, but instead of extending the stem back and then forward so as to form an upper stem to work in the notches of a steadying-wheel for support, as heretofore, they are made single at their rear ends, as seen in Fig. l, the said end being simply bent up as seen at, 70, which produces, not only the stud whereby the operator (D) slides the needle forward and back, but serves, in combination with the sides of the groove (2') as a perfectly suflicient means for supporting the needle in proper position in the said groove. A wire tie, Z, is let into the carrier, transversely, as seen in the drawings, merely for the purpose of keeping the needles from falling out from the under side, and not to bind them in the grooves (2' The said needles can therefore be inserted or withdrawn, as occasion may require, with the greatest facility.

The operator (D) is simply a block of metal grooved so as to fit around, and slide upon, a stationary guide, D, and be at tached to the connecting-rod (F), which is jointed at F, to a screw-stem F, which is adjustably fixed to the said operator (D), by means of jam-nuts 3, 3, in the well known manner seen in Fig. 1. The under side of the operator (D) has two broad projections l, 1, which reach down nearly to the periphery of the needle-carrier (B), and alternately catch upon the studs (70) of the needles, in operating them.

The presser (G) is a fiat plate constructed so as to be capable of being slid up and down between the vertical stationary guides, G G, (which are fixed to the frame (A)) in close contact with the face end of the needle-carrier (B), its lower end being beveled so as to produce a chisel-edge next to the faceof the carrier, and also slotted in its middle as seen at, 4, so that it may pass clear of the needle, as it slides up and down in the guides (G G); the thin, beveled, edge may also be slightly serrated to prevent the possibility of the stitches or fabric from slipping from under it as it is pressed down upon the same. Its vertical sliding motion iseffected by means of the bent lever (M), which has its fulcrum at N, while its weight end passes loosely through a doublecou'nter-sunk hole 0, in the presser (D), as seen in the drawings, and its power end rests upon either of the two cams (P P) on the crank-shaft 2, it being jointed at 2, so that it may be moved from one cam to the other as may be required in knitting to the right and left.

The presser (G) is suspended between the guides (Gr G), by means of a spring which draws it up, as the weight-end of the-lever rises, so as to bring its beveled edge above the needlethe cams '(P, P,) acting on the lever (M) force it downward to produce the requisite pressure on the stitches.

Having thus fully described my improvement and pointed out its utility, What I face of the cylinder, substantially as de- 1c)laim as new therein, and desire to secure scribed.

y Letters Patent is- The arrangement of the vertical guides, MARK ROBERTS G G, and the presser G, with the said Witnesses: horizontal needle-cylinder B, so that the BENJ. MQRISON, guides and presser shall be outside .of the JAMEs MOCAHEN. 

